The Rock: 'Live Free! Die Well!'

Young wrestling icon Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson impressed Hollywood in The Mummy Returns even though he spoke Egyptian and was a giant Scorpion monster! Returning to the big screen in the spin-off The Scorpion King, The Rock has a chance to carry his own film and introduces a new catch phrase "Live Free, Die Well," and yes, we can still smell what he's cookin'!

When we met with The Rock in Los Angeles, he was leaner than in the film and looked pretty sleek in all black. Guys, he's a great fellow and worth your admiration, girls, okay...he's mega-hot! Intelligent, kind, well-spoken, polite. Hey, can they clone him? He's also a new dad and glowed about his daughter. The Rock also told us about riding a camel, doing his first big love scene, his adventures on the set and his future plans for wrestling and his film career, all while signing our crew hats for us!

Teenhollywood: You have an interesting heritage. Can you talk about that?

Rock: Sure. I'm very proud of what I am. My dad's black and my mother's Samoan. My dad came up in the wrestling industry in the '60s. Then you couldn't even use the same bathroom in a lot of places or eat in the same places and yet they would still cheer him as their champion. Very interesting. Now, generally, people see me and don't say 'hey, there's the Rock, that guy of color, that black guy, that Samoan guy, that whatever he is guy.' It's just The Rock.

Teenhollywood: You have a degree in Criminology. Why pick that and do you watch shows like CSI?

Rock: I do have a degree but I never have a chance to watch TV. Criminology was always something that intrigued me. I wanted to work with the Secret Service one day. In college I had a great professor and we did a lot of case studies. It was great and then, as it often happens in life, we go in a different direction than what we plan and that happened to me. I thought I was gonna go to law school and then realized that you actually have to go to class. So I didn't do that.

Teenhollywood: Who are your favorite action heroes?

Rock: Growing up, (there were) three movies between the ages of 8 and 9 I fell in love with: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars and Rocky. Harrison Ford, I always looked up to him. Sylvester Stallone and Mel Gibson. I love George Clooney as well. Growing up those guys and of course, Arnold (Schwarzenegger). The Terminator, those were always great. Twins, I felt was funny. Great to see him diversify a little bit.

Teenhollywood: Who do you want to pattern your career after?

Rock: Mel Gibson has shown tremendous range as an actor. It sounds very ambitious but that's ok. And Denzel (Washington) too; not just for winning an Oscar but everything he's done prior. As Malcolm X, I thought he was fantastic. Speaking in terms of the action genre, I get the comparison with Arnold and Stallone a lot. I always say that those guys' shoes are really big to fill, too big. I don't want to even try it. I'd rather take my own route; make my own path.

Teenhollywood: How did you prepare for this role?

Rock: I'm a lot leaner than when we did the movie. Other than all the sword fighting and the staff play that we had to do; a little bit of martial arts. I look big on screen because I'm with guys who are smaller. It's only when I'm put next to Michael Clarke Duncan that I don't look big. Michael is huge in the movie. I tried to watch what I ate. The wardrobe kind of cut in here (he says pointing to sides). A lot of times it wasn't attractive. You catch me breathing heavy. I had two great stunt guys. For the most part I did all of my own stunts with the exception of the sandstorm scene where I'm jumping off the horse and doing a flip and beheading a guy. I can't jump off a horse...or jump on a horse for that matter.

Teenhollywood: Did you get some acting coaching and has that helped?

Rock: Yeah. I think it helped me. My acting coach worked with Helen Hunt in As Good as It Gets and she won the Oscar. He coached, Michael Clarke Duncan in The Green Mile and Jim Carrey for The Majestic so it helped me in a lot of ways. When I went back, it helped my performance in wrestling. I'm a big jeopardy fan; being in jeopardy as a wrestler, and being flawed is always very important to me. That's why I typically lose more matches than I win. Going back for re-shoots helped me tremendously and moving forward to the next project which, in all likelihood will be with Universal a contemporary two-hander action comedy. We just met with the writer on what should be called "Hell Dorado." My coach helped me to get where I needed to be in the movie; when my brother was killed in front of me, eyes had to get watery.

Teenhollywood: Did you realize that you were already using acting techniques as a wrestler?

Rock: He (my acting coach) discovered that. I had no idea. I didn't have anything to gage it by. For example, exercises you do and before you know it you're in a moment and crying and 'can I do it?' Yes! Watching the film, I think the hard work paid off.

Teenhollywood: It was cool that you rode a camel. How was working with him?

Rock: The first camel we worked with passed away, unfortunately. That camel was 15. The second camel they brought on was three. It's not like a baby. Three is like an ornery teenager. Pissy and moaning and basically every scene we shot with that camel we had to go back and do voiceovers for (the soundtrack) because he would not shut up the whole time. Just angry and they regurgitate their food and spit it at you. Good projectile vomiting. Riding a camel is a lot different than a horse. A horse can be smooth but a camel can only be smooth when it's running.

Teenhollywood: How has being a dad changed you?

Rock: It's changed me completely. You become a lot less selfish. The decisions you make are based around how is it going to effect the baby. You don't just leave the house whenever you want to. It's like a big ordeal; gotta get this and that before you go but it's a great thing.

Teenhollywood: Is she like you or your wife?

Rock: Unfortunately, she looks just like me, which is scary-amazing.

Teenhollywood: Does she do the eyebrow?

Rock: She doesn't do the eyebrow. She has the smarts of my wife, which is very fortunate. She's got her own little personality. She's eight months old now so she starts to recognize things. (She knows) If I cry loudly, somebody's going to come pick me up or feed me.

Teenhollywood: Were you in the delivery room?

Rock: I was right there at my wife's head.

Teenhollywood: Are you having a hard time going around freely without being recognized?

I'm very protective of my family that way. I try to wear a hat but it really doesn't work. With this movie it's a different audience and being seen by a larger audience. That's no problem. That's the price you pay. It's the price I paid with the WWF and it's a small price to pay if it's something you really want to do.

Teenhollywood: Are you worried about the track record of other wrestlers who have tried to make it in the movies?

Rock: I'm not worried about that too much. I'm a different guy. The only thing I want to do ultimately, is entertain the fans and, with The Scorpion King, I snuck in last night to see the movie and it was great. I just wanted the audience to be entertained. I was like a little kid. I was sitting beside Michael Clarke Duncan and nudging him. I was really happy with it. I hope last night's reactions were indicative of how the rest of (the world) is gonna feel about the movie. (In America) everybody in between L.A. and New York is a fantastic bullshit barometer. They say 'we like this or we don't like this' which is great. They're very vocal and passionate and loyal and I just want that chance. I can't wait.

Teenhollywood: Did you enjoy going beyond wrestling and using swords and martial arts?

Rock: Absolutely loved it. What helped me in wrestling is the ideology of not being afraid to step out of the box and singing, dealing with an old lady or doing whatever, it's the same formula. But in Scorpion we go back to the basics and all the fight scenes are very relatable and entertaining.

Teenhollywood: How was shooting your first love scene? A little intimidating or fun?

Rock: (smiles) Well, it wasn't intimidating and it's not like it was a lot of fun. Love scenes are fun when they're real, you know, but on the set you've got people watching and (saying things like) 'Yawn, I gotta go eat.' Oookay. I give a lot of credit to Kelly Hu who wore basically what you saw in the movie, the entire movie with a crew of 300 on the set every day looking at her, and she's getting on and off a camel. She did great.

Teenhollywood; Hulk Hogan has sort of passed the torch to you as the icon of professional wrestling. How are you going to find that balance between acting and wrestling?

Rock: I'll try to balance both as long as I can. Being in every pay per view, I doubt that. It's very ambitious. I know how it was for Scorpion King and it was very difficult. I'll always appreciate what Hogan did for me. We've become really good friends after that. He's such an emotional guy. In the ring he was crying and I saw that and was emotional as well. The great thing about it when Hogan was in his prime, he was a little older than me, but he was the only guy back then. Now, it's a luxury. There's Stone Cold Steve Austin, the Undertaker, Triple H, a lot of big players.

Teenhollywood: You are a big hit with kids. Is there anything you won't do in your acting career because of that fan base? Like real, ultra violence?

Rock: Actually, we have a lot of 18 to 35 (year-olds) too. Within the parameters of our show (the WWF) the violence is very slapstick and very Three Stooges and you know that it's not happening. There's no guns or knives on the show. Nobody's going to get murdered or raped on our show but you turn the channel and a lot of television programs are a lot worse. Our show can get racy and we push the envelope too much, I have no problem admitting that, but I think as a responsible performer there are some things that I probably wouldn't do. There's a fine line you walk. A movie can't be responsible for everyone's actions. A movie's not real. It's like being blamed if a kid picks up a gun and starts shooting people and he's 13 and says 'I saw Arnold do it or I saw the Rock do it with a sword.' A 13-year-old should know better.

Teenhollywood: You've been on Saturday Night Live twice now. Was that your idea?

That was big. I don't remember how it happened (the first time). At that time I had just shot The Mummy Returns. I think it was all part of the publicity. My agents called and I said I'd love to do the show. Not only did I want to do the show but I was adamant about not doing any wrestling on the show. They said, OK, if you don't mind dressing up as a monkey or a woman. No problem.

Teenhollywood: Are you going to do more singing like on Saturday Night Live? You are really good.

Sure. Thank you! I'd love to, sure. Why not?

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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.